Return of the BatSwarms?

[Grish]

Hi,

With Batswarms now much cheaper than 6th edition, it has quite a few attacks, a nice amount of wounds, good mobility, and the best part: with IoN you heal 1d6 wounds.

Will we see a return of this unit? With 3 bases it could hold up some larger units or attack some low toughness opponents.

I will definitely try this unit out in a few games to see how they do.

-Grish

 

[The Dead of Night]

do you get D6 wounds healed? Non-infantry only get 1 wound, I would have classed them as non-infantry.

 

[Grish]

At the back of the book, the Bat Swarm is listed under "Infantry". Also on pg. 7 of the main rulebook, what type would bat swarms be?

While it may not seem intuitive, they are infantry with the special rules of 'fly' and 'swarm'.

 

[The Dead of Night]

Cool, I'm glad you pointed this one out to me. I don't know if I would use them.. They ARE pretty cheap... Maybe I will have to give it a go.

 

[Kaptain Von]

Well, they'd have to be Infantry, 'cause if they're not, Summon Creatures of the Night would be looking very, very shaky. One Dire Wolf at a time's barely worth bothering with (unless you only need one more for US6), one wound on Bat Swarms or Fell Bats would relegate it to the dumpin' ground.

 

[The Adept]

I can't see Dire Wolves being infantry, as they have the fast cav rule!

 

[The Dead of Night]

I think his point is that as dire wolvs are cav and only heal one at a time, the power would be rubbish if the same was true of the others.

 

[Zephyr]

I use, or used actually, bat swarms for protecting my flanks or as "chariot blockers" and I'm pretty sure I will include them in my new army. I only dislike the models because they look like flying monkeys...

 

[lorgoth]

U can always use LOTR ones (imo much better).
Here is the link
http://uk.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.uk?do=Individual&code=99061466022&orignav=16

 

[Balvine]

Or use Reaper Bat Swarms. They look cool, too

 

[Zephyr]

Both very good options I really like them

 

[Kaptain Von]

I think his point is that as dire wolvs are cav and only heal one at a time, the power would be rubbish if the same was true of the others.

Exactly. As it stands, it's pretty good.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

I like the LotR bats but I still don't think I wouls use bat swarms, after paying out for Dire Wolves / Fell bats I can't really see me paying for them.

As for invocation my interepration is that the heal the same as infantry, as previously mentioned who would use that power, even maybe the units themselves if you could only heal one per IoN?

 

[dreadlordvharesh]

on that note do the fell bats count as infantry...they're definitely not flying cav that much is certain...

 

[assimilation]

Once again, on the last page of the army book, they are listed under the infantry section, in between the skeleton and grave guard entries.

 

[mannfred]

I like them more than Fell Bats, same base size, double the wounds and attacks.

Sure they may be a lot slower but that stops you from throwing a unit at the enemy with no support.

 

[Skeletal_Grift]

I just ordered 3 swarms for my VC army that is in the works. Was a big fan of swarms way back in 5th Edition and I loved the Tomb Swarms when I had my Tomb Kings. Swarms definately have their uses and they will fit into the theme of my VC army rather well.

Does anyone else use Bat Swarms and what roles do they fulfill in your army?

 

[TMS]

I've not had much experience with them myself (and of that tiny amount, none of it has been good :lol: ) but StirogiPirogi mentioned that he has had some success with them in one of his army lists. You can find it Here.

 

[Sweeney Todd]

Sorry to rain on the parade guys, but I find them useless in comparison. Sure, the Swarms have more W and A, but Fell Bats have higher S and T which kind of evens out that so-called advantage. The additional speed of the Fell Bats makes a huge difference when applied to their roles of march blocking, war machine hunting, harassment etc, and Swarms will find it much harder to get to what they're trying to bog down in the first place.

 

[Sanai]

Yeah, but you cant heal d6 wounds on a fell bat. And bat swarms are just so dirt cheap.

 

[TMS]

@Sanai, oh yes you can. Fell Bats are classed as infantry just like Bat Swarms are.

 

[Sanai]

Really?
*cackles in delight*
Still, on the cost thing, for me, bat units are usually the last unit to be shoehorned in to a list, so sometimes I may not be able to afford enough fellbats.

 

[StirogiPerogi]

The Bat Swarms are a good piece. They have a few advantages that most people overlook.

1. They move 10" without having a vampire around.
2. They Fly. They can "jump" over other units.
3. They have a lot of wounds and attacks.(Unit Strength of 3)
4. They are easily healed. (d6 per ION)
5. They still cause fear!

Now if they only counted as a core slot!

My Bat Swarms have successfully beat Sword Masters, all kinds of skirmishing units, stopped Empire Detachments from counter charging and have run down numbers of war-machines, wizards, Dwarf Thunderers and have taken countless numbers of sacrificial cannon, bolt-thrower and magic missile shots.
The Bat Swarms are a very compact unit; 4 wounds per base makes them immune to killing blow, and ensures they can attack all but the most heinous units back after receiving charges. Against toughness 4 enemies, they are hopeless, but it is funny when they actually peel-off a chaos warrior or an Iron Breaker.

Just as an interesting note; myself and a few friends have been playing around with the rumors of the percentage composition builds for the upcoming 8th edition; and while a 25% character selection hurts us bad, I have fielded an army that has 10 bat swarms, 30 or so Dire Wolves, and 15 Fell Bats in it, and it is pretty damn powerful.

 

[TMS]

I must say that you've given me the desire to give the Bat Swarms a few more tries, Stirogi. Fell Bats do compare very favourable to them though, which is the main kicker..

 

[Lord Fear]

Haha yes, me too. I still have a couple of swarms somewhere and another blister or two unopened. I may add a few in to the next VC army I formulate!